"The Horticulturalist"

The text which serves as the basis of our sermon today is from the Old Testament Lesson previously read. Ezekiel 17:22-24. More specifically, the last sentence of verse 24, “I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.” This is our text.

            On October 26^th, 1984, when I was ten months and 26 days old, a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger was released to theaters. The name of the movie was The Terminator. I’ve never actually seen the movie myself, but there is one particular quote from that movie that I have probably quoted at least a couple hundred times over the course of my life. That quote is the infamous “I’ll be back.”

            In July of 2005, “I’ll be back” was ranked as the 37^th most memorable movie quote of all time by the American Film Institute. Personally, I think it should have been ranked higher. It’s such a great quote. Apparently after he has been refused entry into a police station, Arnold Schwarzenegger who is playing the role of the Terminator says the  infamous line “I’ll be back”. There is power in those words. There is no doubt. The Terminator is going to come back. And he does, he comes back in a police car, smashes it through the doors of the police station and commences in killing almost everyone in the place.  

            You can almost feel the testosterone oozing from those few short words. “I’ll be back.” What really makes those words powerful is the guy who’s saying them. Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s already an intimidating figure, with his well defined muscles, his five titles as “Mr. Universe” and of course, his incredibly powerful and intoxicating Austrian accent. Combine all these characteristics with his indestructible nature as portrayed in his role as the terminator, and when you hear him say, “I’ll be back” a shiver runs down your spine.

            I don’t know about you, but I felt a similar shiver run down my spine when I read the last sentence of Ezekiel 17:24. “I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.” Usually the Lord let’s his promises speak for themselves. When the Lord tells us that a virgin will conceive and bear a son named Immanuel, he leaves it at that. When the Lord tells us that a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse and that the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, he doesn’t elaborate and reinforce the point. But for some reason, today, in the book of Ezekiel, the Lord opts to finish his prophecy with a powerful “I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

            Now, when Arnold Schwarzenegger says, “I’ll be back” we have the image of an indestructible cyborg assassin played by a professional body builder with a deep voice and thick accent. However, when we hear the Lord say, “I have spoken, and I will do it.” We have the image of a horticulturalist. We are told a story of a man who is going to take a sprig from the topmost branches of a cedar tree and plant it on a mountain. Yay! Not exactly the powerful image I was expecting. Who cares? So what? The Lord’s going to plant a tree. Big deal.

            But it is a big deal, because this message from the Lord is a message of hope. It was a message of hope delivered to a people who had none. The people of Judah didn’t have much hope. In 597 1/3 of the people of Judah were deported to Babylon. In eleven years, the remaining two thirds of the people would follow. Most of the citizens of Jerusalem have already been separated from friends and family. These people have lost their jobs, they have lost their houses. Farmers have lost the land that has been in their families for centuries. Parents are selling their children into slavery, the price of basic amenities have gone through the roof. If you thought $3 for a gallon of gas was bad, how about selling your house and children for a bag of flour. On top of all this, most men of fighting age have already been killed in battles against the Babylonian army, and those who aren’t dead are severely disabled.

And during all these terrible times of deportation and dismantling, Ezekiel stands up and preaches a word from the Lord. He says, “The Lord will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. You shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and you shall drink water by measure and in dismay.” (Ezekiel 4:16) Not exactly the most uplifting sermon is it?

And so Ezekiel preaches again, “Jerusalem has rebelled against the rules of the Lord…, therefore, “fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to the winds.” (Ezekiel 5:10) Would you like a little hopelessness to go with your despair today?

And then there is the kicker in Ezekiel 6:11-12, “Thus says the Lord God: “Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them.”

            It may be hard to believe, but Ezekiel’s sermons got worse. Read Ezekiel chapter 16 sometime if you doubt me. Ezekiel is not very popular. He sucked the life out of every party. If you’d tell him good news, he reply with bigger story filled with bad news. If you walked around with a smile on your face, Ezekiel was ordained by God to wipe it off. If you patted someone reassuringly on the back, Ezekiel would come by and kick them in the shins.

Ezekiel, his name means “God strengthens,” but he probably acquired some nasty nicknames. The Israelites probably called him “Mr. Bad News” or “Crazy street preacher” or more likely, “Mr. Negative.”

            And negative thinking is depressing, it’s cancerous. Nobody likes a pessimist. If Ezekiel lived today, I’d tell him to lighten up, and then I’d give him the book Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits by Dr. Wayne Dyer, currently 12^th on Amazon.com’s bestseller list. Or, more likely, I might just stop listening, and start listening to someone else.

            And that’s exactly what the Israelites did. Oh they heard Ezekiel all right, but they stopped listening long ago. There were still prophets in Jerusalem who preached to a different tune. Prophets who coddled the broken hearted, prophets who faked humility when offered a gift. Prophets whose voice was smoother and silk and sweeter than honey.

            But it was only Ezekiel who was speaking a word from the Lord, and for a moment, he changed gears. Trailing at the end of countless sermons of doom and gloom, Ezekiel shared with the Babylonian exiles and prisoners-to-be another sermon. A sermon that was completely unlike any other sermon he had ever preached. This sermon was not about an angry God. This sermon was not about some well-sculpted, hell-bent vengeful God who would terminate his people. Rather, this sermon was about a horticulturalist planting a sprig from a giant tree on a high mountain. And this was a sermon of hope, a sermon of good news. It caught the people off guard, and for a moment, all of life’s troubles melted away, and the Israelites listened. And they heard that beautiful promise from God. The promise that Jerusalem would be restored, and that everyone would live under the shade and shelter of its king. The Lord will nurture his people, as a horticulturalist might nurture his plants.

            What a blessing it is for us today to read these words from Ezekiel, because we need to hear a similar message of hope. It has become far too easy to relate with the Babylonian exiles hasn’t it? Because like the Babylonian exiles we are a bruised, beaten, battered and beleaguered bunch of people. I don’t need to repeat the litany of troubles this community is going through. I don’t need to run through the laundry list of things that are wrong with America today. You’ve read the newspapers, you’ve watched the news, you’ve heard the sirens blaring as ambulances race through the streets of Salem and down Hwy. 57. You’ve watched as helicopters fly over the town and touch down on the landing pad outside the hospital. And you’ve probably muddied a nice pair of shoes because you stepped somewhere where the ground was unnaturally soaked at this time of year because of all the rain.

            And so once again Ezekiel’s message of hope is heard among a community suffering from nothing but bad news. Ezekiel tells us that God will plant a sprig on the top of a mountain. And that sprig is going to grow into a magnificent tree that will offer shade and shelter to all people. And behold he has. That sprig is Jesus Christ and he was very much planted on a mountain. He was planted on Mount Calvary. Where his arms were spread out like branches as he died on a cross. It was on this mountain where he paid for our sins. And because of his death, and because of his resurrection we rest securely under the canopy of his grace. Hear then the promises of our victorious savior.

Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” 

            John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

            Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

            John 14:3 “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

            Listen again to John 14:3 “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” I think Arnold Schwarzenegger summarized this passage best when he said, “I’ll be back.”

            My brothers and sisters in Christ, these are the promises of our Lord. He has spoken, and He will do it!

Amen.